Today was Gone
by liLY light
Summary: Cress Lauxand was a normal person that was completely neutral about Pokemon. She had a best friend whose mind was wrapped around becoming a Pokemon Master, and her dreams were so high, aimed to the very moon. But one night changed it all.
1. Today is the past

I stared at the blank TV screen.  
_How long has it been since then?_  
I couldn't remember. It was all a blur, a blur too fast to capture with naked eyes.  
A blur too fast that ran through five years of my life without stopping for me to catch my breath.  
_It was all because of that one night. It triggered the storm that ruined my life, my best friend's life, and the lives of all the people that knew me._  
The six pokeballs next to my arm wiggled as I saw the reflection of my best friend's Pokemon. They were now mine. They were almost always mine.  
It felt like so long ago, and yet so close, because in my mind, every single detail, every whirr of emotion, every tear that dropped down my face, I could remember as if it was a minute ago. A second even.

_The flash of claws, silver in the moonlight, glistening a sickly orange from the campfire. I heard a scream. Faint, but a scream. A scream that came from my best friend's mouth. Terrified. My breaths were uneven. Unsteadily, and dropping everything in my hands, I fled. _  
_I fled towards her scream. Lisa's scream of terror and death and pain._  
_Those silver claws in the moonlight weren't orange, or silver anymore. Who knew __**they**__ could lust for a human's blood? They glistened red and a sickly feeling erupted in my stomach._  
_Beady black eyes and matted brown fur. An Ursaring._  
_An Ursaring here? It couldn't be possible, but there were Teddiursa. _  
_But there was no time to talk, no time to ponder what the hell was going on._  
_Lisa was almost dead, her sweet brown eyes pleading for me to stop the monster. Her luscious brown curls were matted with dark red blood, and her fingers; One was missing from her hand, scattered far away and the bone was sticking out like a white rose among red. Her legs were twisted in odd angles and by the blood seeping into the dusty floor of the forest, she had a stomach wound as well._  
_God, it made me want to just hurl up the dinner I just ate in peace and silence._  
_She pleaded to me silently, her eyes dripping tears I hated to see. Because it was her that was dripping the tears, and me, oh stupid me, with the stupid idea to camp out in the woods to train her Pokemon._

_I was surprised the Ursaring didn't mangle my body then and there. _

_My hand clutched the Pokeball and with all the faith and might I mustered in my young body, I threw it to the ground._  
_There was a flash of light, just like the ones on TV. Bright, brilliant, my savior._  
_Versing the giant, big, furry, angry, GIANT Ursaring, was a tiny, cute, oblivious to everything Pokemon. Out of the six Pokeballs I chose, I had to choose the Togepi._

_The moment Cloud, the Togepi, was out, its cute button black eyes stared at its dead, covered in red, trainer, and boom. Cloud snapped._

_Cute black eyes no more. They were like pure pools of hatred as they glared menacingly at the Ursaring. That big furry monster quivered like a Teddiursa versing a Celebi of the forest. _  
_That scream that ripped out of Cloud's mouth was one I had never heard before._  
_It wasn't the soft melody of a singing Togepi._  
_Neither was it a gentle coo from a mother Togekiss nursing its babies._  
_And it wasn't a mad kind of grunt I had heard Cloud do so many times._

_It was like a roar of pain and sorrow and misery and grief and hatred and anger, something no one thought a Happiness Pokemon like Togepi would have._  
_But it did, and it let loose a wave of psychic energy so strong, it blew a huge crater around it. Its energy launched me backwards, almost screaming, into a tree, where I hit my back against it, and slid to the forest floor._  
_The grass itched my calves. I couldn't hear the Ursaring. It was deathly silent._

_I scrambled up, despite my aching back and my itchy legs and I ran. I ran for Lisa. I ran for the best friend I had, laying on the grass her head against the dirt and the blood pooling around her._  
_The first thing I heard was a low moan. _  
_A moan from Cloud. _  
_The pokemon was pushing its stubby yellow arms, rolling the mangled body, cries of pain ripping from its tiny egg body._  
_Lisa's brown, beautiful eyes were glassy and unseeing, the stars of the midnight sky reflecting in the peaceful, terrified black of her pupils. Dried blood surrounded her body and flakes of it were tangled in her hair. _  
_Oh, beautiful Lisa. She's gone and dead now. I wish I was her, so she wouldn't have to die with a dream so close in her hands._  
_Instead of the boring lazy girl, Death had to choose the goal-driven girl whose determination shown in every aspect she did._  
_The perfect girl._  
_The beautiful girl._  
_Why was it her that died?_

_Why wasn't it me?_  
_It was my scream that brought my parents and Lisa's parents. A loud scream. One that had my throat sore for days on end._  
_I couldn't help it._

_Lisa was dead._

_The next few days for me were dreadful._  
_The trees looked bland; their leaves were no longer a vibrant green of the summer, but an ashen gray._  
_The sky was gray, the ground was gray, it was as if my heart was taken away._  
_Lisa was literally, my heart. She was like me. She was a part of me, a part so big that when it was there, it wasn't noticed. It wasn't until it was gone, that I noticed. _  
_The only reminder that Lisa was there, was the note she had left behind, still on the flawless white pillow she could've slept on that night._  
_I recognized the writing as hers. No one could be in a rush, and still write slanting, typing print like her._

_Cress,_  
_I know you're reading this, because I'm afraid something might happen over the trip we're going to have. This is just a feeling, but...I think I might die. It was a premonition from Dream. She flashed and begged me not to go, saying there might be consequences. But, you suggested it, and I don't want to leave you hanging._  
_Anyways, if I do end up never coming back here, or something of the like, please,_  
_Can you take my Pokemon and finish my dream?_

_Lisa._

_"Yeah. Yeah. Why not?"_


	2. Today is no longer the present

Lily: THE SECOND EDITION OF TODAY WAS GONE IS HERE!

Hannah: REJOICE! :D  
Lily: I hope you enjoy this, because we spent lots of coffee (and wasted too much coffee) on this, although it's short.  
Hannah: If we wasted six cups of this caffeine crap on this, I'd hate to see if it was longer.  
Lily: Anyways, we don't own anything of this fanfiction, except for Cress.  
Hannah: Review please? I feed off of them. :3

xxx

The six Pokeballs were still in my hand when I fell asleep, but now they were rolling on the floor.  
It was odd, seeing them roll around aimlessly, boredly, because their real Trainer was gone and dead now.

"I'd better see how they're doing..."  
Pulling the blankets off of myself, the cold floor stung my bare feet as I sat down. When I reached over and grabbed the spheres, my eyes stared back at their scared eyes.

Pressing the white button, there was the same flash of light that saved me and not Lisa.  
Cloud, the Togepi, came out with a muffled cry. Beady black eyes stared at me and she chirped. I wasn't sure if it was a cry of happiness, or one of sorrow.  
All I knew was that Cloud shared the same grief that I had.  
She waddled over to me and sat down on my lap, her egg body warm against mine.

The next Pokeball I held in my hand was definitely a fluffy one. Even through the red sheen of the top of the capsule, I could see it had thick yellow wool and blue skin. An Electric Pokemon.  
Was it...I believed it was called a Mareep, but I couldn't remember.  
The Pokeball opened, and out it came the Mareep.  
Judging by my memories, Lisa called her Mareep, Alayne.

"Alayne?"  
"Maaa..."

Yep, her name was Alayne, and Alayne wasn't very happy.  
Her dark blue eyes swirled with confusion and worry. Her paws scrabbled at the smooth hardwood floor, trying to find a balanced grip.  
All the while, my heart sunk, because I knew I had to give out the bad news.

"Um...Lisa's dead." Her paws stopped. Her eyes widened, then closed, then widened again. Blinking back sorrow that was dripping down her cheeks.  
Alayne collapsed in a fuzzy yellow heap on the hardwood floor.  
Cloud cried out her language, something I couldn't understand.

I wasn't connected with them. Not yet.  
The rest of them barely knew me. They only knew me as their trainer's best friend. But their trainer was gone. What would I be to them?  
Absolutely nothing.  
But that was the point of being captured. A wild Pokemon has no connection with its captor. That was what I would be.  
The captor, the capturer.

So I had to make those connections. And I'd make them. Gladly.

"Alayne, look at me."  
The Mareep twitched her ears, and sunk deeper into the floor.  
"I know you're sad." There was another twitch of the head. I took it as a signal to continue.  
"Even if your trainer has died, it doesn't mean you have to give up on life." I could feel her eyes flicker towards me, just barely, before looking back at the planks of wood.

"Just like Lisa, I'll love you." Alayne lifted her blue head to look at me.  
"Yeah, I'll love you and I'll protect you, just like what Lisa did."

I held out my hand cautiously. Alayne's eyes stared at it. I couldn't read the emotions in her eyes.  
Slowly, but definitely moving, her head butted against my hand.  
Her wool stood out fluffier as she let out a weak electrical current to zap my hand briefly.  
It didn't hurt. Instead, it felt as if she was accepting me.  
Kind of like those cheesy movies with the rabid animal making friends with the hero. Except I wasn't the hero. The hero was dead, and I was merely the sidekick, the replacement of the hero.

I didn't mind at all.

Petting Alayne on her smooth head, my other hand grabbed at the other Pokeballs, snatching the nearest one.  
As I looked into the red side, I could spy the Trapinch inside of it.  
I recognized the Trapinch, and he recognized me.

"Pillar..."  
Blinding my eyes, Pillar popped out of his Pokeball eagerly.  
I knew he was probably expecting Lisa next to me, because when he came out, he scurried to my side, before looking up.  
Confusion, and he backed away.

"Pillar, it's me. Cress. Remember me?"

He was one of my first Pokemon. It turned out Lisa had wanted a Trapinch, and I gave it to her gladly. I missed Pillar. He was a patient guy, a bit lax, but...  
Pillar's black-and-white eyes stared, and after a while, he let out a happy gurgle.

"Trapinch!"  
He took a flying leap before landing into my lap comfortably, but in the process, pushing Cloud over.

"Togepi!"  
Pillar turned and faced the angry Togepi that couldn't get back up. Cloud was rolling on her back angrily, stubby legs and arms waving uselessly in the air.  
Even through all the sadness blanketing the room, we all stifled our giggles at seeing Cloud's antics.

"Tooooo...gepi!" Smiling and still stifling giggles from the sight, I pulled her back onto her stubby yellow feet and her eyes closed in happiness. She gurgled, and smacked Pillar lightly.

"Three more Pokemon to go..." I thought and sighed.

I hope they would be as easy to bond with as these three.

xxx

I had met almost all of them.  
A grueling, tiring experience, but I had done it.

There was Pillar, the Trapinch. He was the one I knew the most. He was my "first" Pokemon.  
And then there was Cloud, the Togepi. We had a connection. Our eyes had first met. We liked each other in a way that was comforting.  
Alayne, the Mareep, had accepted me. She had inner conflict; I had inner conflict, we shared a common bond of torn feelings.

The fourth one, Dream, the Misdreavus, was harder. I knew the next three would be harder. He pulled my hair a lot. There was a lot of disappearing and reappearing, along with a good dosage of creepy cackling. That still didn't sidetrack me. I couldn't show that I was scared of this Ghost Pokemon, even though I was.

It was what I said that affected Dream the most. "Fine, if you want to be like that, I'll set you free. Then you'll see what the world is like when there's no one you can rely on, count on, love, except yourself."  
He had stopped in midair, right in the middle of one of his cackles, and floated down towards me.  
Dream's red pupils stared at me. It was unnerving, to say the least.  
It was definitely a few moments, only punctuated by Alayne's Mareep noises and the occasional grunt from Cloud.  
But Dream broke it with a loud cackle, and landed on my head.

I took it as acceptance of ownership.  
However, the next two Pokemon would be the biggest handfuls.

Lyle was the loud, distrusting Pokemon that Lisa spoke of. Except he wasn't loud and distrusting towards her. He was loud and distrusting towards me. That was the thing.

"SPHEAL!"

His loud barks weren't helping me or my ears.  
Lyle wasn't helping my new Pokemon adjust to me either. They just glared at me like, _Why can't you shut him up?  
_I felt my irritation slowly building up. I tried to be a patient person. It either worked for a while, or it just failed miserably. This was one of the former cases.

"SPHEAL, SPHEAL!" His blue, frontal fin-paw things smacked together in one loud clap of painful agony.

My patience broke like a stretched rubber band.

"JUST SHUT UP, LYLE!"

My outburst ended up creating the most silent silence I had ever heard in my life. I let out a weak grin, my breath coming out in labored pants.  
It had been a while since I had yelled that loudly.

Wide, scared black eyes stared at me.  
They reminded me of Cloud's, just minusing the eggshell and the Togepi. But that meant it wasn't Cloud's. I confused myself.  
But the point was, Lyle was scared of me. His feet (or fin-paws?) scratched against the hardwood floor, backing up until his fleshy backside met with the wall with an empty echo.  
And even then, he scuttled into the wall, while Alayne, Cloud, Dream, and Pillar all watched him.

"Argh." My patience was never the kind to stretch this far, but I steeled my nerves and got up.  
Lyle screeched, but his noises were muffled by the wall he was currently attempting to meld himself to.

"C'mon, Lyle. I'm sorry."  
He shook his head slightly.  
_C'mon, c'mon, c'mon. I'm sorry. WHY ARE YOU SO DISTRUSTING?_

It was the only moment in which I wished I could throttle something. But, I had to be patient. I had to bond with Lisa's Pokemon. After all, in order to complete her last wish, I had to use her Pokemon...

"Look, I'm sorry for yelling at you. I know..." Maybe I was going to step on something taboo, because Lyle was heavily affected by Lisa's death, but...  
"Lisa wouldn't have treated you like this."

Lyle froze.  
Lisa always got through to them. After all, she was their guide. Their Trainer. And on a different level, their lover.

"I know I can't be Lisa. I can't be everything she could have been to you, but I'll try. I'll try to be the trainer Lisa would have been. I'm not perfect, but, c'mon, who is? No one will ever compare with Lisa, but, please, let me at least be a temporary substitute, Lyle."  
And for emphasis, I added one last:

"Please."

Lyle was frozen, but his black eyes glimmered.  
Just a small bit, but it was a glimmer.  
A weakly grin found its way on my face.

"Lyle?"

"SPHEAAAAAAAAAL!"

That was completely unexpected, and I dove for cover, my hands pressing against my ears.  
The other Pokemon let out squeals of surprise, and likewise me, covered their ears to muffle the terrible shrieking noises.  
But Lyle wouldn't stop, he just came closer to me, and stuck a cold snout against my stomach, and let loose another wail of happiness.

"Oh, dear lord. I think I need a break now." I managed to wheeze out, before forcing Lyle to go back into his Pokeball.

It wasn't until the next day that I cracked open Lisa's Houndour's Pokeball. I didn't know it would have been so disastrous.


End file.
